Today’s 7 CRE Scoops – June 22, 2017

Developers in Tampa Bay, Florida, are honing in on buildings that show functional obsolescence, razing these properties to rebuild real estate that answers new demand from the city’s recent population influx. About 50,000 people move to the city annually and many are settling in downtown areas. With limited supply of CBD inventory, developers are turning aging strip centers and parking garages into new retail, grocery stores, banks and office space. Lenders are “more eager to finance” real estate in the area, according to J. Squared Developers President Jay Miller. (Via 10NewsWTSP)

Taiwan-basedFoxconn, a global giant in electronics manufacturing, is considering among six states for its next U.S. factory site. Foxconn plans to invest about $10B into building a display-making factory, which will employ a reduced workforce by utilizing automation. CEO Terry Guo said Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were contenders, but a decision would be made in July. (Via Reuters)

Mall owners have largely stayed ahead of the wave of the store closings brought by retail rightsizing, according to Guy Barnard and Greg Kuhl of Janus Henderson Investors. “High-quality mall owners are well aware of these trends and have been pruning their portfolios of geographically inferior assets, adding experiential and customer service elements to their properties, and proactively managing the tenant mix toward stronger operators,” Barnard and Kuhl say. Publicly listed landlords have figured exceptionally well. In 2017, only 31 of the 421 combined Sears, Kmart, Macy’s and J.C. Penney closures occurred in malls held by U.S. REITs. (Via Seeking Alpha)